the department of justice or the federal district court in washington, d.c. so, the state of florida, for an example, never sought to get clearance to purge. and they're hiding behind there may be fraud. that's their own. amy goodman: you were on that selma to montgomery march. this. can you explain what happened, as we go back, what, almost half a century now? rep. john lewis: on march 7, 1965, a group of us attempted to march from selma to montgomery, alabama, to dramatize to the nation that people wanted to register to vote. one young african-american man had been shot and killed a few days earlier, in an adjoining county called perry county-this is in the black belt of alabama-the home county of mrs. martin luther king jr., the home county of mrs. ralph abernathy, the home county of mrs. andrew young. and because of what happened to him, we made a decision to march. in selma, alabama, in 1965, only 2.1 percent of blacks of voting age were registered to vote. the only place you could attempt to register was to go down to the courthouse. you had to pass a so-called literacy test. a
